This invention relates to a horizontal synchronization circuit for use in a television receiver or the like.
One of the components of a television receiver is a decoder that receives a composite video signal, separates the horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals from the image signals, and provides output signals for image formation and scanning control. For horizontal scanning control, the decoder is adapted to output a signal that remains stable at a horizontal scanning frequency f.sub.H even if the composite video signal is temporarily disturbed by channel switching or noise. Decoders of this type are readily available from various manufacturers.
Some types of displays, however, must be scanned at a rate higher than the conventional f.sub.H. This is true in particular of displays that employ more than the standard number of scanning lines to achieve improved image definition, and of displays in which the picture signal is converted from interlaced to sequential scanning. Examples of such displays are to be found not only in television receivers but also in so-called multimedia displays that display both images produced from video signals and images produced from a computer, and in displays with very large screens such as the outdoor displays employed in stadiums and other public places.
In many cases the higher scanning frequencies needed by these displays are not available from existing decoders, hence must be generated by an external circuit. The external circuit may also generate other necessary timing signals. To keep these signals synchronized with the composite video signal the external circuit conventionally receives the composite video signal, extracts the horizontal synchronizing pulses, and feeds them as input to a phase-locked loop.
A problem is that the phase-locked loop does not produce stable output signals when horizontal synchronizing pulses in the composite video signal are missing or otherwise disturbed. This leads to disruption of the display when the composite video signal is contaminated by noise, or when the signal is switched from one video source to another. This problem could be solved by providing the external circuit with features similar to those found in the decoder, but that would require much complex and expensive circuitry.